1) Ipswich Witches
It came as a shock to me when Ipswich decided to move down to premier league but an even bigger shock when they revealed their 2011 team and this is why i've put them to finish top. They have a brilliant number 1 in Kevin Doolan who brings a lot of experience to the team. The other 4 in the top 5 are all capable of being heat leaders and their reserves are probably the 2 strongest in the league. The witches have at least 5 riders who can up their average considerably especially with 3 of them being young rising stars. Expect big things from this team.
Rider to watch: Taylor Poole
2) Somerset Rebels
Somerset's team definitely shines out as a top one. Their top 4 all have valuable elite league experience which will help them greatly. Young Dakota North is a talented young aussie with a successful career ahead of him. Cory Gathercole has had a better than expected aussie titles, finishing 6th overall which can only do wonders with his confidence. Christian Hefenbrock is on a steal of a 5.00 average! That will definitely be increased. Team to look out for!
Rider to watch: Sam Masters
3) Newcastle Diamonds
Another team with a mixture of experience and youth. Newcastle were always going to miss young Dane Kenni Larsen but who better to replace him than Geordie Stuart Robson! After 2 years with Lakeside it was a bit sudden that he opted to move down however I think it will be a possitive move both for himself and the diamonds. I think this will be Rene Bach's last season in this league before he moves up to the elite league, he had an incredible season last year and i doubt this season will be much different. Newcastle's reserves are 2 young Brits (nice to see) who are destined for great things, Kyle Newman recently made the final of the last round of the aussies which is encouraging.
Rider to watch: Kyle Newman
4) Workington Comets
Workington also have made use of certain riders averages, James Wright (usually an elite league rider) on a steal of an average with 7.82 and the same with Tomas Topinka on an average of 7.64! With 3 up and coming riders in Peter Kildemand, Richard Lawson and Kenny Ingalls, this team has a lot of potential to do well!
Rider to watch: Richard Lawson
5) Sheffield Tigers
The main talking point behind the 2011 Sheffield team is the signing of experienced Aussie Shane Parker, totally unexpected but one all Sheffield fans would be dead pleased with. They have kept half of ther 10' team and It's nice to see they've stuck by 3 young Brits, Josh Auty, Simon Lambert & Ashley Birks.
Rider to watch: Josh Auty
6) Redcar
Jason Lyons, Gary Havelock, Aaron Summers & Matej Kus all in one team?! That's a pretty good top 4 to be fair.. Before Christmas, Redcar had already signed young Brit Joe Haines but unfortunately he crashed badly in Australia on 11th December which resulted in him suffering multiple injuries and although he's on the mend now, Redcar couldn't keep the faith and replced him with young Czech rider Matej Kus which I think is a pretty good find as he has grand prix experience as a wildcard. Adam Roynon at reserve is definitely someone who deserves a lot of good luck this season.
Rider to watch: Aaron Summers
7) Berwick Bandits
Berwick's success this season all depends on Charlie Gjedde's fitness, if he's fit he'll be a brilliant number 1 but he has been out for a year and a half now and may be a bit rusty. After Kozza Smith's Aussie success I think Berwick will be glad to have captured his signiture. Team solid all the way through.
Rider to watch: Kozza Smith
8) Glasgow Tigers
Glasgow have a powerful top 3 duo of Joe Screen, Josh Grajczonek and James Grieves and powerful reserves in young Nick Morris and Michal Rajkowski. I'm not too sure what to think of the signing of Theo Pijper. He last rode in the UK in 2008 and didn't particularly have the best season, however he could come back a better rider, who knows?! we'll have to wait and see.. If he does then Glasgow have a decent side and could finish higher than I predicted
Rider to watch: Josh Grajczonek
9) Edinburgh Monarchs
Captain Matt Wethers will have benefited from his doubling up role with Wolverhampton last year and this will have a possitive affect on Edinburgh's season. Craig Cook was a surprise signing for me, I expected him to stay with Workington but definitely a rider for the future. The rest of the team is fairly decent.
Rider to watch: Craig Cook
10) Newport Wasps
I don't know why but Newport dont really stand out to me... Maybe it's the fact they had over 2 points left. I dont know much about this Mark Jones lad apart from he rode in their national league team and was Speedway Star's rider of the year, I will say though the 2 young Aussies at reserve could come good this year and be strong reserve pairing. Leigh will always be a good premier league number 1 it just depends how the rest of the top 5 shape up, they all have potential to be great.
Rider to watch: Kim Nilsson
11) Rye House Rockets
Rye House like to stick to their assest base (Neath, Boxall, Bowen), sometimes it pays off and sometimes it doesn't, this season was hard to predict for Rye House, they will most definitely miss hot Swedish prospect Linus Sundstrom and I doubt he was easy to replace. With both reserves only 17 years of age there is a lot of room for improvement and I'm sure Ritchie Hawkins will take his Ipswich experience to Hoddesdon.
Rider to watch: Ben Morley/Tyson Nelson
12) Plymouth Devils
I can't really say much about Plymouth apart from they'll benefit from having Ben Barker as their number one, he has gained plenty of elite league experience with Coventry and I don't think he's really a premier league rider anymore. Jason Bunyon will be a great back up to Ben and both are great heat leaders. The rest of the teams seems a bit too national league to me apart from Lee Smart who had a great season last year and recently won the new year classic at Newport. As for Claus Nedermark.. i've never heard of him?!
Rider to watch: Lee Smart
13) Scunthorpe Scorpions
David Howe is a great number 1 for Scunthorpe and is someone who always give 100% to the team and has great back up from Carl Wilkinson. The others have potential great but not brilliant. Thomas Jorgensen I know very little about, apart from he won the Rob Woffinden Shield last October, he's a young Dane that could be hit or miss.Rider to watch: Steve Worrall
14) Leicester Lions
Leicester are new to British Speedway for 2011 so had to start their team from complete scratch, the signing's of Richard Sweetman, Richard Hall and Sergey Darkin are possitive ones and Jan Graversen could be a great reserve. However Illy Bondarenko on a 7.00 average could not be so great, also John Oliver has not ridden in Britain or anywhere other than Aus since 2008 and Jamie Courtney is a hit and miss reserve.
Rider to watch: Richard Sweetman
TA
